Growth of mobile telephony and plurality of wireless networks provide various facilities to the users today. One of these facilities is person or resource searching. Disparate topographies present a plurality of issues relating to searching of various resources located throughout the landscape. Further, providing such a facility on a mobile device adds on to the problems since a mobile device such as a mobile phone lacks a substantial keyboard to enter information, a mouse, and a big monitor to see, navigate and understand the results of a search. In view of such problems, there exists a need for a mechanism that may be devised by utilizing limited resources available in a mobile device that may provide the convenience to the users to perform resource searches via the mobile device.
At present, the available solutions involve searching for information using key phrases that require the user to type a key phrase using an available input means such as a keyboard, keypad, and the like. Such searches require extensive input of key phrases that may be difficult while using a mobile device.
The present invention describes a system, method and a device for searching that enables multiple search terms in a multi stage query while looking up enterprise contact information or resource record information presenting the search results on a mobile device along with adaptation of the results using location information.
In order to solve the problems faced at present while resource searching, the current invention proposes a system and device that utilizes an on-line mode of operation and thereby makes use of a two stage multi term search paradigm with limited text input that may retrieve search term suggestions even with single letter inputs from a PeopleFinder application server. The present invention then proposes to combine the search results with location information relevant to the user performing the search. The method described herein also combines the search results with the location specific information to augment the quality of the results presented to the user.
The two stage search being employed in the present invention is based on United States Patent Application US 20100179964 titled “User interface and system for two-stage search.”
Other features and advantages of the present invention are explained in the following description of the invention having reference to the appended drawings.